I'm able to farm T2 relatively well now with the gear I have on. My plan is to to farm T2 until I get 2 star weapons with really great UVs, then upgrade them myself to 5 star. Does this sound reasonable? Or is it better to farm instead for a premade 5 star item?
Also, what are the best UVs I should search for to play as a Swordsman on my weapons/armor? And which sword should I aim for first?
wow, thanks for typing this out. I'm definitely going bookmark to refer to later. That synergy is a really great point I didn't consider.
My goal was to purchase a pre-made 2 star item with a decent UV, then upgrade it myself.. or do people who farm UVs generally not trade their good 2 star UVs away? I thought that would give me the best of both worlds: I would get a decent UV but also buy it cheap, before its upgraded into a 5 star beast.
If you already have the recipes to upgrade the weapons, then definitely starting from the 2* and working your way up is the more efficient route. Buying 5* items with solid UVs can get crazy expensive. Check clockworkmarket.com for some sample prices - some are nuts.
When you get a low UV (I just got a magic cloak with a low bonus in elemental defense), can you actually upgrade this uv (by levelling up the item/ crafting it into a third star item) or will it always remain a low UV?
Might sound stupid, but I didn't find anything about this...
If you have a UV and upgrade something, you have 2 choices.
Lots of questions here.
What you plan to do is reasonable-- but it becomes a matter of preference. Are you willing to farm all the money necessary to pay for a premade 5*? Keep in mind that "really great" UV's will probably push the prices of that item into astonishing amounts.
Then again, how much are you going to end up spending on your own, just to spam-transmute a 2* piece of gear until you get the UV you want? Remember there is no guarantee on self-creation, you could technically spend millions of crowns and never find your ideal UV.
As a melee user, you should understand how UV's are separated.
Weapons get: Increased Attack Speed (IAS), Charge Time Reduction (CTR), or Increased Damage on .
Armors get: Increased Defence, and Increased Resistance. Note: I have yet to see a shield that has a UV for increased status resistance. Confirmation on this would be great.
That being said, UV's will then depend on what gear you use. Getting something like CTR on a weapon like Gran Faust is essentially worthless, because the charge attack on Gran Faust is potentially debilitating to a Knight. Getting something like Increased Damage on Slimes with a Flourish is also useless-- because Slimes resist piercing damage. You'll quickly learn what has synergy, and what doesn't.
The swords you want also depend on your personal playstyle, and your end goal. I'll go over some very basic pros and cons of the "common" swords. Unfortunately I don't have much experience with the Flourish line (I haven't gotten to play with it much), and I'm a little iffy on Brandish line-- so someone else will have to fill in.
Cutter - Recommended UVs: IAS
Pros: High Damage-per-Second, High Attack Speed, Low after-swing recovery, Potential to poison enemies (If you go Vile Striker Line), No step-forward on first swing.
Cons: [arguably] Useless Charge Attack, Long Combo String, Slight steps forward while attacking
Calibur - Recommended UVs: CTR, IAS [secondarily]
Pros: Medium-high Damage-per-Second, Medium-high Damage-per-Swing, Useful Charge Attack, Wide Swing Arc, Recipes are 100% available off of Kozma
Cons: Only one good branch, No bonuses to speak of (very basic sans-UV)
Troika - Recommended UVs: IAS, CTR [secondarily]
Pros: Ability to Stun, HUGE arc, High Damage-per-Swing
Cons: Very slow swings, high recovery time, Low-Mid Damage-per-Second, only goes to 4* (currently).
Avenger - Recommended UVs: CTR, IAS, ID on Undead/Construct
Pros: Elemental Damage is great on undead/constructs, Very useful Charge Attack, high Damage-per-Swing, Decent Damage-per-Second on non-resistant enemies
Cons: Very slow swings, high recovery time, Elemental Damage is resisted by Beasts and Gremlins.
Faust - Recommended UVs: IAS, ID on Gremlins/Slimes
Pros: Shadow Damage is great on common enemies like Gremlins and Slimes, High Damage-per-Swing, Ability to Curse Enemies, Decent Damage-per-Second on non-resistant enemies
Cons: Faust's Charge Attack has a high chance of cursing you [making it very inefficient], Very slow swings, high recovery time, Shadow Damage is resisted by Fiends and Undead
Brandish - Recommended UVs: CTR, appropriate ID
Pros: Mid to Mid-high Damage-per-second, Mid to Mid-high Damage-per-Swing, Multiple possible branches, Some branches offer the ability to cause status on charge attack
Cons: Not as wide of a swing arc as Calibur, No pure-normal damage line (meaning it suffers from the same damage pros and cons as Faust/Avenger) except for Cautery Sword-- which stops at 3*